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October 25, 2018

Vestige Archetypes | Rebinding

In this series, I'll be slowly tackling a rework of one of our favorite classes, the Binder. The class was originally a straight update of the class of the same name from D&D 3.5's Tome of Magic, including most of the original vestiges, but as we revisit this class, we'd like to examine its mechanics and its concepts with fresh eyes, improve upon them, and write a whole new list of vestiges.

Community day! I'm going to ask for help collecting as many unique mechanical focuses for vestiges as we can. Leave your suggestions in the comments!

Vestige Archetypes

Every vestige should have a definitive concept behind it, whether it's that of an archer, a rogue, or a healer. The following archetypes are some starting points we can build entire vestiges around. [Things in brackets are included for completeness but are undecided upon.]Miscellaneous

HP Tank: Higher HP, some self-healing

AC Tank: Heavy armor proficiency (should only be one or two that allows for heavy armor)

Party Face: Social features, with perhaps some charm spells

Skillmonkey: Specifically being proficient with lots of skills. For simplicity, other vestiges won't generally give out skill proficiencies.

Stealth: All the sneaking abilities. Probably also some spider-climb for mobility or some Cunning Action

I'm trying to generally avoid implementing anything which gives more skill or saving throw proficiencies (excepting perhaps one vestige dedicated to that specifically) and anything which changes ability scores (though using Charisma in place of a physical score, like Strength, should be allowed) or adds flat bonuses to attack rolls. The reason for this is that changing these base statistics can be an absolute pain to keep track of, so static modifiers (like attack bonuses and skill bonuses) should be pretty much fixed no matter which vestiges you pick. Vestiges should be giving you new abilities, not forcing you to rewrite half your character's numbers.

Additionally, there are some old mechanics, like damage reduction, that I think should be avoided.

If there's any vestige archetypes you think we've missed, leave a suggestion in the comments below! Also, let me know which vestige archetypes listed above you like the most.

Seeing Conjuration (Summoning) up there makes me think you could have a vestige give the Pseudodragon Clutch feature from the School of Broodmasters, but change the pseudodragon to something of equal CR, like a wolf or such, to make a packmaster archetype. I think that could be fun, but idk tho.

I think doing a smith vestige that is able to summon different weapons and armor to them for fighting, basically a walking armory (my idea being that while you are bonded to them you are able to rapidly adapt your equipment to the situation at hand, might be a bit to complicated to deal with, partially drawing inspiration from Archer in Fate/Stay Night and his ability to summon swords of different kinds into his hands)

I've added a bit for a shapechanger/disguise dude as well as a Divination archetype. I imagine, though, that shapeshifting disguises will end up with the party face or the enchantment/illusion vestige.

For active abilitied on some combat focused vestiges you could consider giving lite battlemaster dice. You could limit then to d4s, only provide ones that fit the vestiges niche or flavor, and don't give too many uses. It should not be too powerful, and there's a feat for superiority dice so it wouldn't be totally unprecedented.

Battlemaster dice are fine in terms of power for a vestige feature, but they're going to end up being really long, which is something we're trying to avoid. After all, I need to include multiple maneuvers you can spend the dice on, in addition to explaining how the dice themselves work.

Since the Binder's greatest strength is in versatility and the ability to change your features as best suits your needs, I think vestiges that have "favored enemies" might be a good idea, even if only sticking these features on existing vestiges (the divine striker against celestials/fiends, the archer could be against flying creatures, there's already one against mages, etc.), although creating a vestige dedicated to it could also work.

In the same spirit, perhaps a vestige focused on travels and journeys (or specific terrains), and one (probably the rogue or skillmonkey) that's a dungeoneer (traps, secret doors, etc.).

Goblinslayer, dragonrider, traveler, and so forth are great ideas when it comes to the vestige's stories and personalities. It won't be hard to link the Versatile weapon vestige to being a dragonrider, for example.

I'm so on the fence about including a mounted vestige. The mounted rules in 5e are a little lackluster in my opinion, and I'm not sure I want to invite that into the book as a vestige. Next week, when we look at the levels of vestiges, we can start looking for an open place for a mounted dude.

With every post my anticipation grows for the new binder. If your still taking suggestions though, I think a druidic, nature magic vestige, like Eurynome, with abilities centered around communing with and shaping nature could be interesting. You could even pull wildshape, spells like nature's wrath or guardian of nature from xtge, or something like the nature cleric's channel divinity. Idan bhk had an interesting notion of favored enemies for various vestiges, I could imagine elemental evil being a particular grievance for this vestige, but there are so many enemies of the natural balance to choose from.As much as I'm excited about the new binder, I will miss some of the old meme-worthy personality traits. My favorite was that Andras the Grey Knight, after a poor pact, might cause your character to drop their weapons and sod off during a pitched battle. A noteworthy mention was Aoskar the Flayed God. I remember constructing a scenario that I would spring as soon as a character made a poor pact with him, where I would reveal that the end of a dungeon connected to the temple of a fertility goddess tended by a circle of tall, female clerics. I never got to enact my gag-plot device, yet I smile to this day thinking about a player having to rp such abject terror from a combination of elements that would only yield moderate surprise from the rest of the party.

I definitely enjoy the idea of having a prankster vestige, probably similar to the one who was a devout follower of Olidemara before he repented on his death bed. Using that as a launching point could lead to many interesting abilities.

Ultra-insighty vestige that is very good in reading people could be nice, my personal favorite was Dantallion because of at-will detect thoughts. Maybe even if they got to use their Charisma for Insight checks.

Also, a vestige that's unnaturally good with animals. I know there was the idea of a druidic vestige, but I believe that could be split into plants and animals ones. Because druids can do a lot of things, so giving both a chance to show could be awesome.

A craftsman, a musician and a gambler. Vestiges based on tool sets mostly. First one based around making objects (think anywhere from craftsman class features to gnomish tinkering), second would be about deafening foes and performing, third would be about trying your luck with some randomness-based abilities. I know these are not quite as short as you'd like for vestiges, but I wanted to list them just for the sake of having them listed. I'll keep ya informed if I come up with more.

I like the Corsair idea personally. I think it would also be neat to have a class dedicated to mobility(not flying) rather than wrapping that in with stealth. I also think it would be super cool to see a summoner if you can manage it. Finally, In my mind the more kinda niche utility vestiges the better because it adds another layer of strategy.

Also I know you touched on this in the last binder post, but if it fits in line with your new binder, but one of the things I liked about the old binder was the some of the traits that you had to find some way to hide or suffer descrimination against the superstitious commoners, I felt it added some good RP opportunities. I know that some would be less noticeable, but I would love to see some physical signs that might be best to hide most of the time.

Now that traits are going to be actual features, it should be a really good chance to bring those sorts of issues to the forefront. I think a lot of them are going to be physical things, but I haven't decided if I'm going to include a feature to make them concealable.

This might fit some of the same niche as Master Thrower, but maybe something that specializes in improvised weapons? Always liked the idea of a character being able to pick up a nearby blunt object and turn it into a deadly weapon (think Lancelot from Fate, if you're familiar with that series?).

Also, maybe some elemental specialist vestiges with resistances/immunities (at higher levels) to certain damage types and some spells/attacks of the same type? Was always fun to have a way to make good use of prep time as a binder - the main antagonist of the campaign I played one in was a shadow dragon, so Acererak was incredibly useful in that fight, and I've always had a soft spot for Focalor and his lightning.

Yep, that's me! I was working on the old Binder back over on the GitP forums, and its Focalor and Ronove were mostly my design. I had a chance to play both the original version and the second edition (the one with the Minor Spirits), though more of the former, and I'm hoping the stars align in my group to get me out of the forever-DM slot in order to try this new project!

Hm. It really depends on how we spin it. If we throw in random technology, it'd be weird, but something that focuses on hardlight or Old Un could work nicely. Still, that's more of a fluff than a crunch angle, I think.

Someone that has access to different magic items. Like a Vault Keeper or maybe the spirit of a dragon who has the perfect item in their hoard. You could allow them to summon a single item from the vault/hoard (with a list of magical/wondrous items to choose from). This vestige may also be so familiar with enchantments that they will make a 'trade' and switch out a Fire enchantment on a sword for an Ice or something.

Maybe while bound to this vestige you are able to bind additional magical items?

After reading through “From The Arcaine Archive” I have completely fallen in love with the Dragon Claws cantrip and would love to see it attached to one of the spellcasting vestiges, maybe one with a dragon theme.